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"Another rebellion?!"

Upon this exclamation, Jenessa's underlings within the flagship became petrified. Silence reigned supreme. On the contrary, Admiral Turras stared directly into Jenessa's fiery yellow eyes, balling his hands into fists as his voice filled the air.

"Yes, my empress. A few umok majority worlds have risen against your rule while others with sizable minorities are currently rioting…"

"How could this have happened?" she asked, cutting off the admiral with a venomous hiss.

"...There were multiple factors." he eventually replied, sighing. "Your decision to directly annex the umok client states caused mass outrage. Not to mention the recent death of a certain war hero. Additionally, you ordered various forces to reposition themselves so that we could reinforce our fleet, weakening the garrisons and flotillas once protecting the now rebelling planets."

Jenessa slammed a clawed fist against a table, rattling the room. "Are you trying to blame me for this, Turras?"

"No…" he said with bared teeth, "But I warned you that this might happen ahead of time. Speaking of which, we now face an issue where our logistics can't keep up with the concentration of military forces stationed here."

"So that is a yes, then!" she said with a swoosh of her tail. "You are aware that your own decision to disobey my orders could be considered a form of treason... correct?"

Turras remained defiant, returning Jenessa's death stare without saying a single word.

"Admiral." she snarled. "Do you know what the penalty for treason is?"

Once more, Turras refrained from responding. Only white noise from distant reactors, ship engines, and even a low hum from computer systems disrupted the silence. Some technicians tried to ignore the palpable tension seeping into the air as they stared at their computer terminals, receiving a crystal clear view of Earth. Multiple infantry transports bearing the mark of the Hegemony moved towards the blue and green marble of a world. Upon reaching the perimeter of the planet, one of them abruptly burst into flames. A swarm of expendable drones suddenly emerged from the desecrated hull while more debris and warm umok corpses began gradually drifting through empty space.

On Jenessa's flagship, emergency systems sprang into action. Notifications appeared on multiple screens. Junior officers and technicians alike were driven into a frenzy. Most concerningly, the entire SAP fleet with fresh forces on the flanks moved towards the ongoing carnage…

"They're attacking the ground reinforcements!" announced a zenari officer.

With some of her various underlings still stoically standing in front of her, Jenessa rubbed her eyes and growled. "Great! Just what I needed. I suppose we can discuss these matters later…" She sat down in her seat, allowing a hologram to display a dazzling assortment of information in front of her eyes. "TO YOUR BATTLESTATIONS!"

Although a few officers performed the customary salute before moving away, most didn't bother. Turras himself let out a low hiss. None of it fazed Jenessa as she began barking yet more orders…

"Fire at will! It looks like they FINALLY grew tired of running!" She paused to press her clawed hands against the arms of her chair. "ONWARDS! I want none of them escaping once we rout them all in a single sweep!"

"Understood." said a sthara technician, who prepared a communication device.

Afterward, orders were relayed. Other responsibilities were delegated throughout the command chain. The entire fleet and its many mechanisms moved as one machine, arranging themselves into an arrowhead formation with the flagship acting as the tip of the spear. Meanwhile, some drones returned to awaiting SAP carrier ships in the distance. Hegemonic infantry transports also retreated as their sparse escort frigates tried to protect them from the apparent ambush.

Most prominently, umok auxiliary forces either dragged behind the rest of the formation or outright broke ranks altogether by moving in a completely different direction… away from the fighting.

"What are they doing?" asked Jenessa, tilting her head to the side.

"Madame…" hissed a sthara technician, "Some of the umok auxiliaries are no longer accepting or responding to any communication requests."

Jenessa narrowed her eyes and grumbled. "Of course." She directed her attention to the hologram modeling the solar system. Zenari battleships and other allied forces followed her massive dreadnought, and they were all highlighted with the color purple. To contrast this, the SAP fleet was marked green. "Even without the help of those cowards, we still outnumber the enemy forces. So... it matters not. We still have a clear advantage. I shall deal with any incompetents once our immediate enemies are vanquished and the primitive people on this planet are bowing before my feet!"

"Then are we just going to ignore those blatant umok defectors, deserters, and traitors?" asked a nearby zenari officer.

In response, Jenessa dismissively waved with a single hand. "Just order the umok auxiliaries to fall back into the formation and to protect our flanks. I doubt they would appreciate being told to lead another attack due to the casualties they have taken so far. As I said, they shall be dealt with later..."

"Roger that!" chirped an umok.

"INCOMING!" said another.

The unmanned fighters and other bombers began surging towards Jenessa's grand fleet. SAP destroyers started sniping distant targets with railguns. Joraxian carriers stayed close to the fighting as they supported their strike craft, but ultimately outside the range of zenari battleships while they fired their many cannons… culminating in a slurry of plasma and laser beam pulses colliding with the drone swarm.

Naturally, the precursor dreadnought became a focal point of the fighting. Point-defense weapons dealt with any approaching enemy drones. Debris from surrounding ships, satellites, and other various remains were like dust particles compared to its sheer size. Different components of the flagship glowed bright blue, resulting in a gradually growing surge of bright lights, which concentrated on a massive weapon… the spine of the ship… all while two metallic arms contained and aimed the entire thing.

"How long will it take for the ion cannon to fire again?" asked Jenessa, indifferent to the gratuitous space battle developing around her. "I want those pathetic destroyers taking potshots at us annihilated! IMMEDIATELY!"

A sthara technician pointed at an indicator on a hologram. "It's nearly charged, madame. Ninety percent…"

"Fire it as soon as possible!" she nearly roared.

"Your wish is my command."

Simultaneously, more ships on both sides engaged one another. Umok on the flanks quickly wavered or fled. Energy weapons went against ballistic ones… albeit the SAP ships fought at longer ranges, with proper battleships and cruisers being rare. Hegemonic vessels engaged distant targets with laser weapons while their plasma cannons made mincemeat of any large ships that got too close.

As time passed by, the indicator reached one-hundred percent before repeatedly flashing on a holographic display.

"FIRE!" shouted Jenessa, snarling. "What are we waiting for? Fire! FIRE!"

Ever so slowly, the ion cannon unleashed a massive beam. A ridiculous concentration of energy. It functioned almost like a death ray as it slowly swept left to right, eradicating any destroyers unable to maneuver away from it as it practically erased them from existence. Point-defense weapons from the flagship continued swatting aside any lesser ships that tried to counterattack from the sides, allowing zenari battleships to surge towards the center of the SAP formation despite other hostiles securing the flanks.

"A few of their forces are already retreating, my empress!" chortled a zenari officer. "It's quite a shameful display!"

Jenessa watched on with sadistic glee as surviving destroyers fled the scene. "Excellent!" she briefly chortled in return. "Now… about those carrier ships…"

"Madame," said another crew member, "We're getting dangerously close to Earth's atmosphere."

With a sneer, Jenessa held her head with one hand. "And I care because…?"

"It's a potential hazard..." said the technician. His eyes went wide at the sight of several emergency notifications flashing on a few terminal screens. "Ah! Our sensors have detected multiple missile launches from the ground. Lots of them!"

"Wait… what?" she asked, straightening her posture. "Where? You mean from the humans?"

The technician nodded. "See for yourself."

With a simple press of a button, the technician displayed different live feeds sprawled across several screens. Some showcased the fighting in space. Others from Earth featured a combination of rockets launching from the ground and submarines rising from the oceans to unleash a flurry of missiles in rapid succession. Not to mention the first-person perspectives of hegemonic warriors abruptly cutting off following the sight of fiery mushroom clouds expanding into the sky as shockwaves decimated everyone and everything surrounding them.

"They're using more nuclear weapons..." said Admiral Turras as he approached Jenessa with his hands behind his back. "Just as I feared."

Jenessa let out a venomous hiss. "Are you here to gloat about being correct before insulting my authority again?"

"No." he hissed in return. "It just has poor ramifications. Either it's a coincidence... or the humans are in contact with SAP high command if they're coordinating in any way, shape, or form."

Even as Jenessa watched nuclear detonations annihilating her warriors on Earth, whether it be Russia or the United States, she merely scoffed. "The ground war matters not if we lose the fleet battle here." She took a sip from a golden goblet as a slurry of communication requests from the ground forces popped up on the many screens, not to mention a holographic map of Earth lighting up like a Christmas tree as dozens of nuclear explosions shook the planet to its core. "Ah. Now… as I was previously saying, target those carriers. Crush their center. Surround and destroy any and all Solar Atlas Pact stragglers!"

"Madame, we are getting more alarming messages from officers on the ground…"

Jenessa cocked her head to the side. "Like what?"

"Unidentified contacts!" announced an umok.

A few screens transitioned to Earth's skyline. High tech cameras zoomed in and adjusted themselves for higher clarity and detail. Dozens if not hundreds of crude missiles were exiting the planet's atmosphere, and they ascended from a variety of locations with many distinct designs such as the Russian Soyuz rocket. Some disengaged their boosters and thrusters upon leaving orbit, while others detached them entirely.

Preoccupied with the ongoing battle, Jenessa's eyes darted between the SAP fleet and the odd assortment of comparatively primitive human spacecraft. "What in the name of my ancestors are they doing?" She directed her attention towards a few nearby officers, technicians, and other crew members. "You told me that those primitives would be unable to retaliate against our fleet altogether!"

As the empress spoke, the rockets advanced towards the ongoing battle at a snail's pace. They mostly just drifted through cold space. Meanwhile, the SAP drones attacked the hegemonic fleet more ferociously despite taking heavy casualties from laser-based point-defense systems, striking them down one by one. It didn't help that both fleets were close enough to Earth's atmosphere that some damaged or destroyed vessels fell into it, practically turning into flaming asteroids as their remains rapidly descended downward.

"Your orders, madame?" asked a zenari officer.

Jenessa found herself paralyzed. Despite significant losses with their center lost, the SAP fleet enveloped her own from the wings like a snare. At the same time, the odd human assortment of spacecraft that could barely be called a proper fleet suddenly surged forward as they re-engaged thrusters for a brief moment… splitting up as each missile launched itself like a dart towards distant targets in a bizarre and disorganized fashion.

Turras's ears folded against his head. "My empress… you and I both know-"

"INTERCEPT THE HUMAN SPACECRAFT IMMEDIATELY!" roared Jenessa, interrupting the admiral like so many times before. "They could be nukes! Stop whatever they are doing before it is too late!"

At this command, the entire flagship shifted towards the human missiles approaching from the side. A few free battleships joined it. Cannons unleashed devastating payloads of fiery plasma as if they were launching miniature suns. More prominently, laser countermeasures prevailed once more as pulses eliminated individual human missiles. More durable ones had their hulls repeatedly twist and contort as the metal itself melted and ruptured from heat, ultimately resulting in its demise.

Despite this onslaught, a majority of the human missiles slipped through the hailstorm…

With the distance between the ships and the missiles becoming shorter and shorter, point-defense weapons became more accurate. Effective. The constant laser pulses swiftly destroyed a majority of the incoming human missiles. However... it wasn't enough to eliminate all of them due to most of the hegemonic fleet preoccupied with fighting the relentless SAP forces.

Soon, a hegemonic battleship closest to Earth became the first victim.

One nuclear detonation overloaded its shields. Another created a ridiculous breach in the titanic hull with its armor doing little to negate the devastation. Finally, a third destroyed the bridgehead, crippling the vessel and taking it out of the fight as blinding lights obscured the flagship's vision of it.

More missiles also successfully struck their targets. Similar scenes played out. The tight battle formations of the hegemonic ships only made things worse as destroyed or damaged ones collided with any intact battleships adjacent to them. It didn't help that the small sizes of the missiles themselves made them a bit more difficult than usual for automated systems to track and shoot down, but the sheer number of them alongside the SAP drones allowed many missiles to slip right through.

"This CANNOT be happening!" said Jenessa with her jaw going agape. She looked on in awe at the destruction as detonations destroyed various ships in her fleet, removing many battleships from the fighting, and even a displaced SAP destroyer was struck and subsequently annihilated by an indiscriminate nuke. "How is this even possible?"

Yet again, the empress never received a response from her underlings for several long moments.

"The drones are trying to overload our shielding systems." announced a technician.

A few more electronic screens showed the drones in question making strafing runs. Regardless of whether they rapidly fired their ballistic weapons or successfully dropped bombs, they were shot down all the same. However, small efforts piled up. Hundreds of the drones making suicide runs against the precursor dreadnought resulted in the otherwise strong shields dissipating and faltering over time.

Concurrently, a few surviving nuclear missiles hurled directly towards the flagship. Point-defense weapons began ignoring the drones. Panic began enveloping the crew as plasma cannons missed the missiles entirely, even as lasers zapped most of the missiles. Emergency thrusters engaged, gradually moving the flagship away…

A maneuver that wasn't enough.

"HOLD!" screamed Jenessa, even as she lost control of the situation as the crew members braced themselves. "FOCUS FIRE!"

Shields barely maintained themselves as they flickered. Crumpled masses of metal from multiple destroyed missiles still slung at them like comets. Several trailing it endured the onslaught of lasers. A nuclear detonation erupted in a matter of moments, finally overloading the shielding systems as SAP drones began assaulting the hull... even while fallout washed over the affected areas.

Shortly afterward, Empress Jenessa could do nothing but scream while blinding lights and fire radiated on practically every electronic screen as another missile met its mark.

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